Rats provide hands-on instruction opportunities for students at Sewickley Academy
Rats scampering about a classroom is no reason for panic at Sewickley Academy.
Instead, it’s embraced and encouraged.
The second grade students are provided a hands-on learning opportunity from two sibling resident rodents, Cheeseball and King Bob.
The duo resides in a large cage in second grade teacher Karen DiMaio’s room.
DiMaio said the rodents are wildly popular with the students and she loves seeing the students interact with them.
“The kids have been most surprised by how smart they are and that they’re very clean,” DiMaio said. “They’re extremely loving.”
DiMaio and the other second-grade teacher, Holly Haddad, utilize the rats for a year-long mammal curriculum.
With a penchant for snacks and snuggles, the students enjoy daily interactions with the male rodents and log daily notes on their care, behavior and progress.
The rats were adopted by the class at the age of four months and are now seven months old.
They’ll live in the classroom all year.
Classmates Emaline Steers and Kayce Bonincontro have no qualms about handling the fancy rats.
“I like watching them because it’s really fun,” Emaline said while clutching Cheeseball.
“When they are out of the cage they tickle. I learned a rat can swim in water,” Kayce said.
The entire school voted democratically to name the pair, voting from dozens and dozens of student-submitted names that included Pickles, Stuart Little, Strawberry, Wyatt, Jellybean, Pizza and Fuzzy.
DiMaio noted male rats tend to be more calm than their female counterparts.
The students all pitch in to handle daily duties such as cage cleaning and feeding.
“I learned all their social behaviors, what they sound like and how they behave,” Steers said. “Rats are actually pretty smart. They learned their names. I think so anyway.”
Student Virginia Ellis loves being a rat wrangler.
“The rats snuggle up on us sometimes,” Virginia said. “They always come back to us. I think they’re used to us. We learned they have bad eyesight so they use their whiskers to find their way. I love getting to hold them.”
Some of the students don’t have any pets at home, so having Cheeseball and King Bob around gives those students a glimpse of pet life.
Second grader Dominic Dickenson favors King Bob because he’s very outgoing.
“It’s good having them and I hold them and I don’t squeeze them,” Dominic said.
DiMaio taught kindergarten for several years and has kept pet rats in the classroom for several years.
She dispelled a myth that she said the rats don’t deserve.
“People think they’re carrying diseases and they’re not. We’re not talking wild sewer rats,” DiMaio said.
Joyce Hanz is a native of Charleston, S.C. and is a features reporter covering the Pittsburgh region. She majored in media arts and graduated from the University of South Carolina. She can be reached at jhanz@triblive.com
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